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Introduction

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

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The majestic peaks of the U.S. state of Colorado reach out so high that the average elevation of the state is more than a mile above sea level, making it the highest of all the states. More than 800 of these peaks rise above 11,000 feet (3,400 meters), and more than 50 of them are at least 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) high. Part of the Continental Divide, Colorado’s Rocky Mountain ranges separate rivers that flow to the Gulf of Mexico from those that flow to the Pacific Ocean. The Rio Grande, Colorado, Arkansas, and South Platte rivers have their sources in Colorado.

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Pikes Peak is perhaps the state’s best-known mountain. Native American legends of creation and of a great flood were centered about this isolated mountaintop. Zebulon M. Pike tried to scale its mists during a blizzard in 1806, but his climbing party did not have enough rations or cold-weather clothes. The mountain’s pinnacle—described as unscalable by Pike—was reached 14 years later by Dr. Edwin James, a botanist with the Stephen H. Long expedition through the Rockies. The peak was the landmark that guided the fortune hunters who rushed there in 1859 in search of gold. “Pikes Peak or Bust!” was crudely lettered on the canvas covers of their Conestoga wagons. Some who came to dig for gold, such as Horace Tabor, instead became silver barons. (See alsofrontier.)

In
the 1950s Grand Junction became a uranium production center. Located in the fertile Grand Valley of western Colorado, the town is surrounded by the Colorado Plateaus, the forest- and lake-studded Grand Mesa, and the vast Colorado National Monument—the site of stark monoliths of red sandstone, honeycombs of caves, and dinosaur beds. Rocky Mountain National Park and the town of Estes Park at its eastern entrance are also world famous. Scenic wonders—the red granite cliffs of the Royal Gorge of the Arkansas River, the ancient cliff dwellings of Mesa Verde National Park, the fantastic rock formations of the Garden of the Gods—combine with the state’s dry climate to make Colorado a year-round tourist playground. Mesa Verde National Park was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978.

Colorado is not entirely mountainous. The eastern third of the state is part of the Great Plains, and irrigated crops of hay, wheat, potatoes, corn, and sugar beets are grown there. In mountain valleys and on the high plateaus cattle and sheep are raised.

When Spanish explorers saw the brightly colored river that begins high in the Rockies, they named it Colorado, meaning “red.” (For a short time it had been known as Tison, meaning “firebrand,” after the firebrands, or burning pieces of wood, the Native Americans carried to keep warm.) The name was given to the land around the river when it became a territory. It has always been colorful in scenery and in history.

As a state, Colorado is comparatively young. Because it joined the Union in 1876—just 100 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence—its most popular nickname is the Centennial State. It is also called the Highest State and, like mountainous West Virginia, the Switzerland of America. Some former nicknames were the Buffalo Plains State, the Lead State, and the Silver State. Area 104,094 square miles (269,603 square kilometers). Population (2010) 5,029,196.

With
an average elevation of 6,800 feet (2,100 meters) above sea level, Colorado is the highest state in the Union. About half of its area lies within the Rocky Mountains. Its 53 peaks that rise more than 14,000 feet (4,300 meters) above sea level constitute more than half of the highest peaks in the United States. Mount Elbert is the highest point (14,433 feet; 4,399 meters) in Colorado. The lowest point (3,350 feet; 1,021 meters) is on the Arkansas River near the Kansas state line.

Natural Regions

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Colorado falls within three of the eight large natural regions of the continental United States: the Interior Plains, the Rocky Mountain System, and the Intermontane Plateaus. Eastern Colorado is part of the Great Plains province of the Interior Plains. To the west are three provinces of the Rocky Mountain System—the Southern Rockies, the Wyoming Basin, and the Middle Rockies. The western and southwestern parts of the state belong to the Colorado Plateaus, a province of the Intermontane Plateaus region.

Great Plains

The Great Plains gradually rise from the Kansas-Nebraska border to the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains, halfway across the state. This province includes the flat, grass-covered High Plains as well as the hilly Colorado Piedmont paralleling the Rocky Mountain front. The region has broad, rolling ranches and farmlands. Since rainfall is limited, much of it is irrigated. Early explorers called it the “great American desert.” The Arkansas, South Platte, and Republican rivers flow eastward across the Great Plains to join the Missouri-Mississippi river system.

Rocky Mountains

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The Rocky Mountains sprawl from the northwest corner of the state to the south center and southwest. This region is made up of a great number of individual mountain ranges. The Front Range rises steeply from the Great Plains. Other ranges include the Medicine Bow, Park, San Juan, Sawatch, and Sangre de Cristo. The Wyoming Basin, a plateau with isolated low mountains, separates the Southern Rockies from the Middle Rockies.

The Continental Divide zigzags from north to south, west of the state’s center. On one side, the Arkansas and South Platte rivers flow eastward, and the Rio Grande flows south and southeastward. Their waters eventually reach the Gulf of Mexico. On the other side, the land drains to the west through the Colorado River and its tributaries—the Green, Yampa, Gunnison, and Dolores—to the Pacific Ocean.

A series of four beautiful mountain-rimmed natural parks runs in a north-south line between the mountain ranges. They are almost treeless grassy basins, occupied by farms and ranches. The largest is the San Luis Valley, once the bed of an inland sea, with an area almost as great as that of the state of Massachusetts. The others are North Park, Middle Park, and South Park.

Colorado Plateaus

The vast, arid tableland west of the Rockies comprises the Colorado Plateaus. Mountain peaks rise more than 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) high, with plateaus between 4,000 to 8,000 feet (1,200 to 2,400 meters) above sea level. Uncompahgre Peak is the highest at 14,309 feet (4,361 meters). The region is wildly eroded into a jumble of flat-topped mesas and steep-walled canyons. The Black Canyon of the Gunnison and the Yampa and Green canyons are among the most spectacular in the world. The plateaus are mostly deserts.

Climate

As a result of the great differences in elevation, Colorado’s climate varies widely from one part of the state to another, and large variations may occur within short distances. Most areas have frequent sunshine and low humidity. The growing season ranges from about 180 days a year in the southeast to fewer than 40 days high in the mountains, where some strips of farmland can be found along a few of the river banks. Precipitation is generally low, totaling 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) in most parts of the state, even with the heavy mountain snowfalls.

Natural Resources

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Colorado’s magnificent mountains are its greatest natural resource. Much more than a tourist attraction, they are rich in minerals, with many useful varieties found in the Rockies and on the plateau to the west. The mountains teem with wildlife—deer, elk, antelope, black bear, and bighorn sheep. Commercial fur animals include muskrat, raccoon, beaver, and fox. Pheasant, quail, grouse, and other game birds are protected by carefully regulated hunting laws. Mountain trout are the most popular game fish. In the lower altitudes such warm water fish as bass and perch are abundant.

About one third of the state is forested. Nearly half of the land is held in federal or state reserve for public use and most of the area is in national forests along both slopes of the Continental Divide. The chief trees are ponderosa and lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce, Douglas fir, and true firs. To maintain adequate tree cover to hold moisture in the ground and control floods, the United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service oversees the watershed.

Colorado’s light rainfall makes irrigation necessary for agriculture. Because most of the farmland is east of the Continental Divide, while most of the normal stream flow is on the western slope, tunnels are needed to carry the water from west to east. The earliest diversion tunnel was the Moffat Tunnel, completed in 1927. It is actually two tunnels: the major one carries transcontinental railroad traffic; the other, parallel to it, carries water for the city of Denver under James Peak, high in the Rockies. Another tunnel, the Harold D. Roberts, carries water from the Blue River near Dillon to the North Fork of the South Platte River to increase Denver’s water supply. The Twin Lakes project transfers water from a tributary of the Colorado River, near Aspen, for irrigation use in the southeastern part of the state.

The largest diversion project is the Colorado–Big Thompson, which brings water from the Colorado River to the South Platte Basin. It includes the 13.1-mile (21-kilometer) Alva B. Adams Tunnel between Grand Lake and Estes Park, four power plants, and 12 reservoirs.

Most of the large irrigation systems are on or near the South Platte and Arkansas rivers in the eastern plains section. In the west, the 5.8-mile (9.3-kilometer) Gunnison Tunnel east of Montrose draws water from the Gunnison River for use in the Uncompahgre Valley. A 55-mile (88-kilometer) canal brings water to Grand Valley from a reservoir near Grand Junction.

People

The first Colorado territorial census, in 1860, revealed that more than four fifths of the state’s population of 34,277 was rural. This pattern continued until 1910, when half of the nearly 800,000 inhabitants were urban. After 1950 the urban component rose sharply, reaching more than four fifths of the population in the early 21st century.

According to the 2010 census, whites made up about 81 percent of the state’s population. African Americans accounted for 4 percent, those of two or more races 3.4 percent, and Asians 2.8 percent. Native Americans, who were mostly concentrated in metropolitan Denver and on two Ute reservations in the southwestern corner of the state, made up roughly 1 percent. About one fifth of Coloradans identified themselves as Hispanic.

Cities

Denver, the capital, is Colorado’s largest city, with more than 600,000 residents. It is located on the South Platte River just east of the Rocky Mountains. Its elevation of 5,280 feet (1,609 meters) gives it the nickname “Mile High City.”

Recreation

Colorado provides outstanding opportunities for outdoor recreation. In the state are four national parks (Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, and Great Sand Dunes); six national monuments (Colorado, Dinosaur, Hovenweep, Florissant Fossil Beds, Canyons of the Ancients, and Yucca House); two national recreation areas (Curecanti and Arapaho); 13 national forests or grasslands; and two national historic sites (Bent’s Old Fort and Sand Creek Massacre).

There is fun for all tastes—yacht races, on Grand Lake; the annual balloon rally and polkafest, at Steamboat Springs; and the Boom Days and Burro Race, at Leadville. In the winter dozens of ski resorts open for business. The most popular are Vail, a simulated Swiss village, and Aspen. A 19th-century mining town with modern mansions on the surrounding hills, Aspen began to attract a huge celebrity crowd after the Institute for Humanistic Studies was founded there in 1949. In the summer many ski resorts turn into cultural centers where visitors may enjoy classical music and jazz, theater, lectures, and discussion groups. Central City, which has been restored to its Gay Nineties appearance, holds an annual summer Opera and Drama Festival. Colorado has five major professional sports teams—the Denver Nuggets, in basketball, the Colorado Rockies, in baseball, the Colorado Avalanche, in hockey, the Denver Broncos, in football, and the Colorado Rapids, in soccer.

Education

Colorado’s first school opened on October 3, 1859, with 13 pupils from Denver and Auraria (later absorbed by Denver). The first schoolhouse was built the following year, and in the 1870s the legislature created the office of superintendent of public instruction.

Economy

Rod Walker/Colorado Tourism Board

Location, soil, minerals, water, space for expansion, and physical beauty are principal resources that have contributed to Colorado’s growth. Ski resorts enhance the local economies of such areas as Aspen and Vail, while energy production is important to the economy of Grand Junction. As the largest city of a vast region between the Missouri River and the Pacific states, Denver serves as a transportation, industrial, and commercial hub and is a center of high-technology industries.

Agriculture

Colorado is a major cattle producer, and dairying is important. Sheep and hogs are also raised. Corn, wheat, and hay are the leading field crops. Hay is produced throughout the state; wheat, mainly in the eastern plains area. Potatoes, sugar beets, apples, peaches, and truck crops of high quality are grown on irrigated farms. Other leading crops are barley, beans, and sorghum.

Colorado’s farms range from small truck gardens to huge livestock ranches covering thousands of acres. In the sugar-beet fields and on the vegetable and fruit farms, the owners depend upon migrant workers to help them harvest their crops.

Industry

Employment in manufacturing has declined since the late 20th century, and this sector now accounts for less than 10 percent of the state’s gross product. The main manufactured goods include computers and electronic equipment, processed foods, chemicals, metal products, medical equipment, machinery, aerospace and other transportation equipment, and printed materials.

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Gold and silver were long the chief sources of Colorado’s mineral wealth. Today the leaders are natural gas, crude petroleum, coal, molybdenum, and sand and gravel. In the western part of Colorado are enormous deposits of bituminous coal, and in the shale of that area are vast resources of oil. The oil resources have not yet been significantly developed because of the difficulty of extracting the oil from the shale.

Services

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The service sector is the largest component of Colorado’s economy. Tourism is one of the mainstays of this wide-ranging sector. The Rocky Mountains and the high plateau country draw many millions of visitors and billions of dollars in tourist revenue to the state each year. In addition to tourism, major service industries include finance, insurance, real estate, government, and wholesale and retail trade.

Transportation

The first Europeans to travel in the state followed the existing Indian trails that often paralleled the courses of the rivers. Then in 1859 the gold rush led to the establishment of a more direct wagon trail between Kansas and Denver. In 1864 a stagecoach line began operating along the same route. In 1870 the first railroad in the state linked Denver with the new Union Pacific at Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Santa Fe reached Pueblo from Kansas City in 1876. In the west the main route ran up the Arkansas River from Pueblo to the Continental Divide at Tennessee Pass, and from there down the Colorado River valley to Utah. Narrow-gauge lines served many mining centers.

The network was improved in 1934 with completion of a new line west from Denver to the old line at Dotsero. The line used the Moffat Tunnel under the Continental Divide. Today railroad lines in Colorado are mainly bulk-freight carriers using multilevel railcars and flatcars for containerized freight, although a main east-west Amtrak passenger route passes through Denver and the Rockies.

Three major Interstate highways serve Colorado: I-25, from the border of Wyoming to that of New Mexico; I-76, from Denver to Nebraska, where it connects to I-80; and I-70, which crosses the state from Kansas to Utah. Denver International Airport is a major center in the country’s air traffic pattern. It is served by almost all major U.S. airlines; carriers link Denver with other Colorado cities, with other states, and with international destinations.

Government

Colorado is governed under a constitution ratified in 1876, the year it entered the Union. In 1893 it became the second state to grant women the right to vote. The initiative and referendum were adopted in 1910.

The chief executive officer is the governor, who is elected for a four-year term. The General Assembly consists of a Senate and a House of Representatives. The Supreme Court heads the judiciary. Colorado counties can choose either a home rule charter or a constitutional government defined by the legislature.

History

Early Native Americans known as the Ancestral Pueblo developed a farming civilization that flourished in what is now southern Colorado from about ad 100 to about 1300. A great drought that lasted from 1276 to 1299 probably forced them to abandon their distinctive homes called cliff dwellings, which they built along the sides or under the overhangs of cliffs. The ruins of these dwellings are preserved in Mesa Verde National Park and in the Yucca House and Hovenweep national monuments.

Exploration and Settlement

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The 18th-century Spanish and French explorers who visited the area found several nomadic Indian tribes on the plains—the Cheyenne, Arapaho, Comanche, and Kiowa. The Ute held the mountain region.

In 1803 the United States acquired from France the land east of the mountains as part of the Louisiana Purchase. The Southwest was claimed by Spain. At the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, by the terms of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, it was ceded to the United States by Mexico. Between 1806 and 1853 the government sent out explorers to report on its new holdings. Among them were Pike, Long, and John C. Frémont. They were guided by mountain men—fur traders and hunters who knew the country and the Indians. The most famous of these were Kit Carson and Jim Bridger—both hunters for the trading post known as Bent’s Fort (near the present site of La Junta).

The Newberry Library, Gift of Everett D. Graff

The first permanent white settlement was founded in 1853 at San Luis in the San Luis Valley by Spanish Americans. In 1858 the discovery of gold brought prospectors from the East. The slogan painted on their covered wagons was “Pikes Peak or Bust!” Many returned home with the slogan crossed out and “Busted by Gosh” lettered below it. Nevertheless, gold rushes after 1858 brought in many prospectors, tradesmen, and farmers, and settlement proceeded rapidly.

Statehood and Growth

Colorado first became a political unit in 1861 when the United States Congress established the Colorado Territory within the boundaries of the present state. Wars with the Native Americans troubled the new settlements until the great Ute chieftain Ouray died in 1880. Colorado became the 38th state on August 1, 1876.

During World War II the United States government began building military bases and other facilities in Colorado. Many of the people who came to Colorado for work stayed after the war. The federal presence in Colorado grew increasingly during the Cold War era. The United States Air Force Academy, founded as the service’s chief officer-training school in 1954, relocated from Denver to Colorado Springs in 1958. Peterson Air Force Base also moved to the area; the base served as the communications and administrative headquarters for the North American Aerospace Defense Command (formerly North American Air Defense Command) and the United States Space Command. Civilian offices of federal agencies—including the Department of Agriculture, the Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Department of Treasury, the Department of Energy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—were also established in Colorado, almost entirely in Front Range urban centers.

In the 1950s Colorado began to grow as a center of electronic and, later, high-technology manufacturing. The diversification and strengthening of the Colorado economy brought an influx of newcomers, and by the 1980s some three-fifths of the state’s population had been born outside Colorado. Tourism soon became a leading industry, while official state policy promoted orderly growth of the economy and the infrastructure to support it. The rapid growth of technological industries continued in the last two decades of the 20th century but slowed in the early 21st century. (See alsoUnited States, “Rocky Mountains,”; “Western Basins and Plateaus”.)

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